Drying apparatus



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` ATTORNEYS June 27, 1933. w. .1.v DE REAMER DRYING APPARATUS Filed July 7, 1931 W. J. DE REAMER June 27, 1933o DRYING APPARATUS Filed July 7, 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR ATTO RN EYS Patented June 27,1933?" v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLI-Alf J. DE BEAMER, 0F' CROWN POINT, IDIAIYA, ASSIGNOR T0 MAPES CONSQLI- DATED HANUFAC'TURING COMPANY, 0E' GRIFFITH, INDIANA, A C()B.PGR3!!!IONv 01B DELAWARE Daems aeeeearne Application le ny 7*,

arge quantities of Water, it more particuiarly relating to improvements in that dass of driers in Iwhich the articles are carried throughout shedrier on endless conveyors andf expose to the inuence of a drying agent such as heeted sir, the artices being snb3ected to either a single passage or ee s pinraiiy of raveis past lie drying agen. c

The moisture coni/ent presens in aricies on deiiver o ahe driers'is reuced ic a minimum. t rough the empoyment c' improved nicning machines, bn; varies sox'newheJ on accenni; of the character ci the produce used end @o a certain exen: from changes in the weather. Therefore, the impreved drier is se @Assigned that the air is suppied hrougi means whereby greaier e'ieiency in operation is secured engi in amounts and; e?, -"Lernperaeures which may be varie reaciiy te sni; con disions. Furtherniere, ehe incisnre-aden air is permitted *50 escape ony threugh a neat reclaiming ev-.fica wiiereby en eccncmy in nei censunipeion is cnained.'

@ne ef he cbjec's of 'iie invention is fie provisie improve means whereby the efciency ef the machine' as e. dreier is increased.

ene ef the resales ofwhich is ehe pcssibiiy ci rencing ehe ength cf nrarfe ef lie arfl @tici/ies While being dried, as a consequence ef which ane ccs?? of @he deler miie may be inwered. Win an accompanying reductien in cai ec: space neqnirel. and she ier manie more appicabie te e system. which ii; is ineerpesed beween the menicng apparatus e. cenni packingmachine. .snot-21er chu f5 is seenre eine economy in ne censnnipien pfevieasiy ineniened.

che ec'ccnpanying rawings: Fie. is fregnieniary, ecp pian View LJ shearing ccnvenieneiy eirying machine in which he principes ei? ehe invention are emzedie. i l

Fie. is e rensverse vericei section en fle im 2;-2 ci@ Fig. E..

Fig. enareea. rregrnenary horizonzai'sec'ien en hnew er' 2. l

Fig. e is an enlarged fragmentary longituinai section onthe line 4 4 of Figs. 2 an 3.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary longicuciinai section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1.'.

Fig. 6 is an end View, partly in transverse vertical section, of a drying machine ef a modified form, the View aso being conventionaiy shown.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary top plan View on a siightly enlarged scale of ehe modified form er" the invention.

Fig. 8 is a ragmenzary eniarfred faransverse section on she `iine 8-8 of Fig.

Fig. 9 is an elevation in diagrammatic form on a reduce. scale, showing ehe reaive arrangenenfJ of she conveyors and sir nenes of the preerrei ferm.

Referring te he drawings, iie improve@ drier ecmprises a :frame-Werk in suppoz'le; cenveyer mechanisms sucia; as ene?.- iess befzs, chains er she like. bias@ arranged se discharge heae; en zie artides a dus@ suppyng highy ee certaine ehe bss; icones, e series censeixuting e. heet recaiming device iccellefi in Ehe peek of she escaping iea-ef ai?s see ondaify nes receiving a major @origina rfi/rien is Vby side-mis and s reef2 Whie such eppnrte l narices as conveyor driving mechenisrn, bearin As end eine Eike are iocate ai; either' end ci? the @aine-Work, Where ii is preferably net encesed. @eher accessories such es fans er bearers ere also "iccseo @inside .ehe frame srnccuee sniable peines.

pension of e conveys? is indicatee' se E ail; :he intake end of the drier, "3. il, eno' in a more dezaiec manner in Figs. an Q. The ccnveycr may ravei hreugiicln; iie Eier in a singie run, or may deliver lie arfaices epesied eherecn so e escenaT ewer convegni, envi ehe secon se e. zhirc, several snch frenszers being mede until the delivery emi of ehe eier is reaehe. The atier ifa- Fia-ation in ecnsencsion is treated as 'themeerre ferm cf she invenizien as feiner 'space reqnnireniencs ere much ses manner.

necessar when using the sin le pass machine, t e time element or e length of travel being substantially equal in either case.

Each conveyor is identical in the respect that the preferable construction rovides a foraminated surface on which t e articles rest, thereby permittin free passage of air through this surface. rieily, each conve or comprises a pair of spaced apart end ess chains 2 connected by cross rods 3 to which is secured a strip 4 of Woven-wire cloth. The conveyor is supported on the horizontal legs 5 of angle-section members, the chains l 2 making direct bearing contact therewith. The angle members are properly spaced apart and positioned so as to utilize the vertical legs 6 as guides and also as points of any point in the drier, and being in the presattachment to vertical stanchions' 7.

The adjacent runs of the endless conveyors are placed close together, as shown best in Fig. 9, and suitable turning mechanism (not shown) is provided for transferring the articles from one conveyorv to another, the turning mechanism employed being that illustrated in Patent No. 1,664,663, dated April 3rd, 1928. f

Upon entrance` into the-enclosed portion of the drier upon the upper run of the upper conveyor, the articles are at once subjected to the simultaneous action of jets of heated air applied upwardly and downwardly. The jets of air issue from blast-boxes arranged above and below and in parallel alignment with the conveyors, the boxes being spaced a art vertically a suiiicient distance to rovide ample clearance for the passage o; the

conveyor and articles carried thereon, and

also to allow a ready escape for the air, since after the 'air impinges upon the moist articles, it rapidly becomes heavily moisture-- laden, and, with the exception of the residual heat, is unfit for further use.

Series of sheet-metal vblast boxes are indicated at 8, 9, l0, 11, l2 and '13, 2, in cross-sectional orrn. The boxes are reierably comparatively short, as seen in Fig. l, and are supported at each end by angle members 14 secured to the stanchions 7. Each box is rectangular in form, and in the bottom of each of those in the series 8 is a plurality of jet orifices 15, while in the series 13, the

top, and in all others both to s and bottoms are perforated with the ori cesl 15 in like The jet orifices -are conicall shaped, the cone portion projecting outwardyi ly, in order to lessen the friction develo d in the flow of the air, and also to provi e a more important advantage in insuring that the air reaches the article in ample quantities. The top series of boxes 8 are positioned above the upper run of the upper conveyor, while the other series of boxesare each positioned between the runs of a conveyor.

Each box of the series 8, 9, and l0 is1connected to a large duct or chamber 16 by short rectangular ducts 17 whose llow capacity is sufficiently great that the air pressures in the boxes and ducts do not materially differ, but preferably the arrangement is such that a somewhat greater blast of air will be placed on the upper sides of the articles to hold them to the conveyor and this may be accomplished by having a greater number of nozzles in the bottom of each blast box than in the top thereof. The pressure ,is created by a fan 18 connected to conduit 19, while the suction side of the fan is in communication with a primary heater 20` Whose air inlet is shown at 21. This arrangement rovides that a large quantity of air is supp ied to the boxes of the series 8, 9 and 10, which air is heated to the maximum temperature allowable at ent instance approximately 60()v degrees Fahrenheit.- In those runs of the conveyor served by the boxes of this series, the mois- 'ture content rapidly diminishes from the maximum to an approximately medium con-- tent, but as the contentis not evenly distributed throughout the article, thin sections or edges and corners are, likely to dry out before other portions, and the ensuing temperatures should be reduced. Therefore on traversing the remaining runs, the articles are acted upon by airat a materially lowered temperature.

This lower temperature air is supplied to the blast boxes of the series 1l, l2 and 13 by aV duct or chamber 22'through short ducts 23 similar to the above-mentioned ducts 17. The duct 22 receives heated air from a heat-reclaiming device indicated in general at 2 through the medium oi an interposed lZan 25, thereby providing a means Jfor securing an econom in operation as the exchanging surfaces o the reclaimer are heated by the discharged air previously mentioned.

The lrecl..i1r1er may be of any suitable form. lin the simple and effective arrangement empioyed, luse is made of a plurality of thinwalled tubes 26 and mixer boxes 27 in which are placed centrally-located baille plates 28 having openings -29, the whole unitingto form a conduit approximatel e ual in length to the enclosed portion of t e rier proper. The suction side of the fan is connected to one end of the reclaimer, preferably near the intake end of the drier, by the duct 30, while the dust 31 leads rom the discharge side of the fan 25 to the duct 22. The opposite end of the reclaimer is more preferably at some point outside the frame structurewhere vapor arising from the drying articles is not.

drawn in by the suction.

. Under normal conditions, the air supplied to the duct 22 is suiciently heated by hav; ing passed through the reclaimer, but in the event additional heat is required, use is made of a secondary heater 32. This heater may be employed as shown in full lines, Fig. 1,`

wherem the suction of the fan -draws air through this heater, in addition to that air flowing through the duct from the reclaimer or, as shown by the dot-dash lines, where the ducts 32' and 32" lead to andfrom the has been stated previously, that is, in the saving'ofvioor space; one other ma beadded in that to avoid loss of heat, a com act arrangement is found advisable. owever, other forms of articles may not be successfully turned or inverted at the end of a run,

necessitating for the dryin of such articles a single-pass drier. An en view of a sim le single-pass is shown in Figs. 6 and 7 in which it will be seen that the output of the machine may be increased by providing a conveyor 33 suiiciently wide to accommodate several rows of articles, which in the figure are represented as pie-plates P- in an inverted position.

Over eachfrow of the plates P is a plurality aligned series of blast-boxes 34 similar to those described in the preceding description. In this instance, however, the boxes are supported on an adjustably secured frame comprising angle members 65 slidably attached to vertical -stanchions 66. Attached to the outer ends of the supporting members 65 are vertically disposed rack members 67, in mesh with which are pinions 68 on transversely arranged shafts 70, and 'at one end of each of these shafts 7 0 is secured a miter gear 71 meshing with a miter gear 72 on a longitudinal shaft 73, whereby on rotation of the shaft 73 the blast-boxes 34 may be elevated or lowered simultaneously to .provide the roper clearance for the articles which are to e carried on the conveyer 33. The boxes 34 are individually connected to a large duct 35 by a telescoping arrangement` consisting of an adjustably secured sleeve 36 encompassing' both the short, rectangular ducts 37 projecting upwardly from each box .Y Located below the conveyor at a suitable and 'the respective ducts 38 projecting down- `wardly from the duct 35. The lower sheetsl or bottoms' of. the boxes 34 are perforated by conically formed orifices 39 similar to the oriices 1 5 above mentioned. The boxes 34 are spaced apart as shown to provide air ducts therebetween toy permit escape of theV moisture-laden air.

distancen is a series oi aligned boxes 46 preferably suciently wide to rcvide that in the npmr side oi each -box t ere may be plarality of rows of perforations 41, locatedin the upperfsurface of the boxes 40 in vertical alignment with the orifices 39. This provi es that there is a similar simultaneous application of heated air to either side of the articles resting on the conveyor, it being understood that the articles are deposited thereon in properly spa-ced rows.

' The boxes 40 are supplied .with air through short` vertical ducts 42 from a. longitudinal duct 43, which, in common with the duct 35,

extends throughout theinitial portion of the drier length (approximately one-half); Each receives a-ir from a heater 44 through the branched duct-45 connectedwith the discharge side of a fan 46, whereby the articles P are acted upon by the simultaneously llowing jets of more highly heated air flowing downwardly and upwardly from the orices 39 and 41, respectively.

a As the articles are carried by and through n these jets, moisture is expelled in the lighter sections, as descr1bed heretofore. It then becomes necessary to complete the drying operationwith air at lowerteinperatures. 'This is accomplished by providing a series of similar boxes and ducts arranged in the same horizontal alignment in such manner as will provide a. single, strai ht run for the conveyor 33. Referring to ig. 7, the numeral 47 lrepresents the furthest extended portion of the ducts 35 and 43, while 48 indicates the beginning of the similar ducts, one of which is seen at 49, the lowbr one corresponding to the duct 43 indicated at 50, at the left of Fig. 7. It will then be clear that while the articles P are passing under the duct .35, the drying process is carried on by the more highly heated air, and when passing under the duct 49, the air is supplied at much lower temperatures.

soy

In this modification, heat reclamation is obtained in a similar manner as described previously, there being the plurality of tubes 51 and mixer boxes 52 forming a conduit extending preferably over the entire space in which airis discharged from the oriices 39 and 41.

' At 53 is shown a fan whose suction side is connected to a duct 54 leading fromthat end' 55 of the heat reclaimer adjacent the intake end of the drier. The duct 54 also receives air through a duct 56 from a secondary heater 57, by means of which added heat may be suplied to the air drawn from the reclaimer.`,

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and 56 at their approximately central points to provide for a comparatively uniform distribution oi pressure. Further, after the moisture-laden air passes through the re claiming devices, it is discharged to outside atmosphere through stacks 59.

Having thus described my invention, l claim: v` f 1. In a drying apparatus of the character described, a plurality of movable endless open conveyors for the articles to be dried located one a ove another, one conveyor adapted to transfer articles to another adjacent conveyor, means'located upon the upper run of the uppermost conveyor forprojecting blasts of heated air downwardly upon the articles carried by said conveyor, and blast boxes located between the runs 'of at least one other conveyor each having air discharge means upon both the upper and lower sides for projecting blasts of air both upwardly and downwardly, the air discharge means on the upper side of each boX being less in capacity than the air discharge means on its lower side and also less in capacity than the air discharge means for the uppermost conveyor.

2. n a drying apparatus of the character described, a plurality of movable endless conveyors for the articles to be dried located one above another, one conveyor adapted to transfer articles toanother adjacent conveyor, a plurality of blast boxes above the upper 'run of the upper conveyor, each of the boxes having a plurality of air discharge nozzles on its under side, a pluralitv of air blast boxes located between runs of an intermediate conveyoin each having a plurality of nozzles on both its Upper and lower sides, a plurality of air blast boxes located between th'e runs of the lower conveyor each having a plurality of air discharge nozzles upon its upper side only, the air discharge nozzles on the upper side ofthe intermediate blast boxes being less in capacity than the nozzles of the blast boxes above the upper run of the upper conveyor andthe air discharge nozzles on the lower side of the. intermediate boxes being greater in A capacity than the nozzles of the blast boxes locatedbetween the runs of the lower conveyor.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 22nd dav of June. 1931.

WILLIAM J. DE BEAMER. 

